Slate and Crows

by Gary R. Lowell

A sinister 15th century black slate castle in north-central Portugal, overpopulated with insidious, all-knowing crows, is the setting for a mysterious inscription on a leper priest's gravestone. It reads: Fr. Joaquim, SJ, 32312 This dismal, dark edifice formerly served as a leprosarium for afflicted monks, now long dead, who pursued the practice of mining local ores during the WWII period. A Texas geologist and a French Jesuit priest are drawn into these ancient, crumbling ruins and unexpectedly encounter a mysterious, elderly black Mozambican priest on a mission of his own. The combined efforts of this unlikely triad decode the cryptic message from the grave and the trio is compelled to investigate an ancient Roman mine beyond the black castle walls. When the geologist descends into the hellish, forbidding depths of a near-vertical mine shaft, he makes a shocking discovery that cries out for justice.

48 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2016

About the author

Dr. Lowell was born and raised on a small dairy farm outside of Modesto, California. He attended high school in Glendora, California and college at San Jose State University where he received a B.S. degree in Geology. His passion for minerals led him to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology where he received a PhD degree in Geology three years later. A long academic career followed at Southeast Missouri State, a two- year posting at a Brazilian university, and eight years at University of Texas-Arlington. During this period, Dr. Lowell published 104 scientific works, frequently consulted for mineral industry (mostly in Alaska), presented research at conferences all over the world and lived in both Brazil and Portugal.

Since retirement, Dr. Lowell has occupied himself writing short fiction and has six stand-alone short works and a collection of nine new stories in publication (Amazon). His stories are often set in Alaska, Portugal or Brazil (his favorite places) and involve odd characters, geology and, sometimes, talking animals!